This is one of the few years where I'm loving the holidays. DH and I have boring lives so there aren't any invites to parties and family lives far too much for a visit. Thankfully my in-laws move to Florida during the winter so I don't have to deal with them.

I actually bought a magazine with a paper tree on the cover, cut out all the strips and put the tree together with my daughters. That was tons of fun. I love blue and silver and it came out really nice.

I got out my Cricut cutter and made a a tree box from a pattern I bought and downloaded. Glue and paper are not my friends as I've discovered. I finally had to have my kids put it together. I'm not a scrapbooker, but bought the Cricut for quilting purposes. I've spent the past two days trying to figure out why my Cougar cutter is being all growly and finally figured it out earlier so I could do some more intricate projects that the Cricut can't do.

I think simplifying means doing the things that are special to you and your family. Anything else just turns into a chore.

I love Christmas cards and wish more people sent them to me. It's so much fun to see them lined up and specially arranged. I don't even care if they are generic. I thought about making cards and realized it would be a chore and way too expensive. I'm not that crafty.

The only thing I would love is a pair of hand knitted socks. I've tried several times to make a pair with a couple of books, but keeping track of the pattern, using the needles and counting kills me. I have two wonderful blue skeins of wool yarn that I had planned to use once I really knew what I was doing. Someday I'll figure it out.